Front loading refuse collection vehicles are known. Typically, such vehicles have been used in commercial applications for lifting and dumping commercial trash containers. These vehicles include a pair of lifting arms having a corresponding pair of forks which are attached at the ends of the forks and which engage channels in the sides or bottom of the trash container to facilitate lifting thereof for dumping into the vehicle body.
The lifting arms and forks are typically operated by hydraulic cylinders which are manually controlled by the vehicle operator. A first set of hydraulic cylinders lifts the lifting arms and a second set of hydraulic cylinders rotates the forks on the lifting arms, when the lifting arms are raised, to dump refuse contained in the trash container into the vehicle body. Usually, an operator will first position the vehicle so that the forks are located within the channels, and lift the trash container above the vehicle cab in which the operator sits. Once the lifting arms are raised beyond this position, the operator selectively engages the hydraulic cylinder controls for the forks to rotate the trash container into a position for dumping. An experienced operator can work the controls for the lifting arms and rotating forks simultaneously, so that the trash container is gradually rotated into a dumping position as the lifting arms are raised.
Unlike commercial refuse collection vehicles, residential refuse collection vehicles are typically loaded from the rear. Such a rear loading vehicle is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,656 to Walbridge. A major disadvantage of rear loading refuse collection vehicles is that the driving compartment of the vehicle is fairly distant from the rear loading area. Accordingly, such vehicles require at least two-person crews, wherein one person drives the vehicle and another person loads the refuse. Alternatively, one person can perform both jobs, but such a task requires constant leaving/reentering the vehicle cab and walking to and from the cab and the rear loading area.
Mounting a refuse collection container on the front of a residential refuse collection vehicle operated by only one person, as in the typical commercial vehicle described above, would eliminate the problem of constant walking to and from the cab and the rear loading area. However, the use of a commercial-type vehicle in a residential environment presents its own problems. For example, tree limbs in residential communities provide limited clearance for the lifting arms and rotating forks on the commercial-type vehicle. In addition, because the operators of commercial-type refuse collection vehicles do not often need to leave the cab, the cabs are often sufficiently elevated to present a burden to a residential refuse collector who must constantly enter/exit the vehicle. Moreover, the commercial vehicle, provided only with forks for lifting commercial trash containers, lacks a container which resides with the vehicle and which is suitable for residential refuse collection.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a residential front loading refuse collection vehicle which includes a liftable container, including means for minimizing the maximum height that the container will assume as it is being raised and dumped into the body of the vehicle. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a residential front loading refuse collection vehicle having a cab which is close to ground level, to improve environmental sightlines for the operator, and to minimize the distance which the operator must cover in exiting/entering the cab each time the front container on the vehicle must be loaded. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide driving controls on each side of the vehicle cab. Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a residential front loading refuse collection vehicle having an improved container which (i) may be outfitted with a cart dumping mechanism for handling residential refuse carts, (ii) is removable for converting the vehicle into a commercial front loading refuse collection vehicle, (iii) has a low loading height to facilitate ease of loading by the operator, and (iv) may be specially compartmentalized to correspond to a compartmentalized vehicle body.